Here you can follow our sailing from Sweden to the Mediterranian.We have a new yacht s/y Carpe Diem, Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 40. Of practical reasons we are still using the homepage of our previous yacht s/y Xavita.

Klicka på bilderna föratt se dem i större format. NOTE! Click on the photos to have a larger image.

Charlotte Amalie has been visited. It is not a noble
lady but the name of the town on Saint Thomas named after the Danish queen
Charlotte Amalie. The town was established in 1685 and is the oldest in the Caribbean.
Also this island is discovered by Columbus in 1493 during his second journey.
The Danes arrived here 1665 in search of wealth and annexed the island which
was uninhabited for the time being. Sugar and rhum was produced and the island
became a transit port for both sugar and slaves. Several pirates made the
island as their base and acted in consensus with the Danish governor.

Today it is all different. The old Danish houses are
converted to jewelry shops. They are next to each other along the main street
as far as you can see. American tourists everywhere. Five giant cruise ships
have offloaded their “happy to shop” passengers. They are plenty as every ship
can accommodate up to 3000 tourists.

We have laid our anchor in the middle of the harbor bay
among other yachties and have the best place to see the cruise ships leave the harbor
in a row at seven in the evening. Every morning when we wake up there are new giant
ships tied up at the dock.

We climb the old stairs, 99 steps made of ballast
stones from the old sail ships and puffing in the steep hills when visiting the
oldest synagogue in the western hemisphere. The floor is covered by smooth
white sand to remember of the wandering in the desert.

In weak winds with help of the engine we arrive at the
little island Culebra just between US Virgin and Puerto Rico. We have now come
to the Spanish Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico and the surrounding islands are today
associated with (not part of) US but have been Spanish for a long time and the
Spanish influence remains. Everybody speaks Spanish, hardly a word of English
is heard, all signs are in Spanish and the inhabitants are not black but more
like Mexicans.

There is still equipment aboard that is not mounted.
They were bought in Sweden before departure as they were a must. A small autopilot
for tiller steering is one. Finally it has got its home made bracket to make it
steer our yacht via the wind vane in case the big autopilot is not willing
anymore. Autopilot and/or wind vane is a must during blue water cruising. Nobody
can steer for hours. We are only steering when entering and leaving harbours
and anchor bays. All other time the autopilot or wind vane is engaged.

Many power boats from Puerto Rico come here to spend
the Easter holidays. The celebration is surprisingly quiet. Ourselves we celebrate
the holidays quietly onboard. Outside is no quietness. Wind gusts are turning
Xavita from side to side. Squalls with rain and hard wind gusts the whole week.
The reason is a high pressure arriving from north. High pressures bring
normally nice weather at home, but here is the opposite. We have never before had such bad weather for such
a long period here in the Caribbean.